Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Our cat, Mimi, has had a lump on her right shoulder for about a year now. We did some research when it first appeared and found out that this was common for older calicos and thought nothing of it since it was fairly simetrical and it didn't seem to be bothering her.

Fast forward to now... the lump is much larger and she is constantly messing with it as if it's bothering her. She's even licked the top of it raw. She is also much more vocal than usual which, if you have ever met Mimi, you know that this means near constant yowling.

We took her to the vet and they told us she needed surgery. So, they took some blood work to make sure there were no underlying medical conditions that could cause complications with the anesthesia or proceedure itself. The results came back today and she is good to go. We are taking her in tomorrow around 9am to have the lump removed and then sent to an outside lab to be analyzed. With any luck it will be that simple and there will be no further complications.

Our vet is optimistic but, since Mimi is an older cat (15 years old to be exact) surgery in general is going to be rough on her. We should have her back Thursday morning. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

Monday, December 28, 2009

I'm really excited about our menu for this week. All of it looks so good! I'm testing out a couple new recipes and combinations that friends have reccommended so I'll definitely let you know if there are any big hits or misses.

I am also attempting a new cake recipe on New Year's Eve to take to the family party. It's a white cake with lemon curd filling that I found on my absolute FAVORITE cooking blog, vintage victuals.

In other news, this morning was our first day doing the couch to 5K program and it was.... interesting. Steve and I are definitely closer to couch potatoes than runners so between waking up at 5am and the running we are both worn out. However, we still plan to keep up with it even if we end up having to repeat a week here or there. Our goal is to be able to run a 5K in April.

We have also been dealing with some issues with our cat, Mimi, but I'll post more about that later.

Saturday, December 26, 2009

Steve and I made it back to good old Port Wentworth this afternoon. We got all the goodies from Christmas up to the apartment and put away. The wedding certificate pictured below is now hanging in our living room and tomorrow preparations for new year's begin.

Our big suprise for the day was coming home to find that our cat had some sort of fit while we were gone and puked and defacated all over the place. You can't even really get mad at her because she's an older cat and things like that happen as animals get older. It took a while to get it all cleaned up especially considering that we were out of paper towels, rug cleaner and pretty much everything except air freshener. Add to that some other smaller issues and it wasn't exactly my favorite day this week.

I'm hoping for a better day tomorrow.

Coming up this week: Steve and I start the C25K program and new year's eve!

Friday, December 25, 2009

It's officially Christmas! Everyone is home this year which is awesome in and of itself but I'm excited because this is my first married Christmas with Steve!

We actually did our Christmas gift exchange on Christmas Eve but I decided to wait and post about it until today.Steve and I got some great things that we will certainly use (clothes for work, a waffle iron and a panini press to name a few) and Steve actually bought me a beautiful diamond necklace. However, our favorite gift of the day was a suprise to both of us from my parents.

They took the Quaker wedding certificate from our wedding and had it framed with the picture we had taken of everyone who attended the ceremony. Check it out!

It's beautiful and we can NOT wait to hang it up in our apartment!

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and stay safe and warm wherever you are. :)

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Steve and I made it to my parents' house for the holidays and it has been really nice being able to relax and spend time with family. My younger brother should get here late tonight and the whole family will be all together for the first time since my younger brother left for boot camp! While everyone is here we are also going to sit for a new family portrait. It's all very exciting.

Also this week, I found out that I am officially accepted to AASU for the spring! I wasn't happy about having to take a semester off of school so finally having the opportunity to get back to working on my degree is a big relief. So many people leave for a semester and never go back. I promised myself that it wouldn't be the case for me.... and it's not!

Finally, I got a confirmation phone call from my new boss. My official first day is January 5th! Woo hoo!

So... to recap... I get to see my whole family during Christmas and my in-laws during New Years, I'll be able to work on my degree again and I'm no longer unemployed. It's been a good week. :)

Friday, December 18, 2009

This morning, as I went to make breakfast, I noticed that our salt and pepper grinders were full. Steve filled them without me asking him to or even mentioning that I needed to do it soon. Little things like that are why my husband rocks. :)

On another note... read your car's owner's manual when weird lights come on instead of taking it to the shop right away. The simplest answer is probably right.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Finally, a day in December that I am NOT sick! It seems the Festivus miracles are abundant this year...

In all seriousness though, I have to give credit where credit is due. If you ever find yoruself with a bad case of food poisoning ask one of your healthy friends or neighbors to go get you some of this:

I generally drink this when I feel a cold coming on or my throat feels a bit scratchy... or even if I'm having trouble sleeping. It works really well. However, the other day when I was curled up on the couch feeling like I was going to die, Steve suggested I drink some just to see if it would help. Low and behold... it did! I drank two cups then went straight to bed. The next morning I was infinitely better.

Monday, December 14, 2009

I had planned on posting the menu we have planned for the week since today is "menu planning monday". However, I managed to get food poisoning and the thought of eating absolutely anything is enough to make me feel violently ill. :(

The only thing we can think of that would have made me sick is the meat we put in the chilli yesterday. Everything we've eaten in the last 48 hours has been the same we've always bought except for that meat. Suffice it to say, I have more reasons to dislike Walmart and NEVER plan on buying meat there again.

Sunday, December 13, 2009

It's been a while since I've gotten the chance to write! Ok, that's not completely true, for a while there I didn't have anything to say and then things got too busy to write.

Anyways... I'm here now to proudly proclaim that all of our Christmas shopping is done! Woohoo! The only thing left to do is mail a few things to those whom we won't see this year and wrap a couple items. Other than that we are all set!

With my extra time this week I'm going to make some Christmas brownies! Yum!

Since I missed MHR friday, I would like to take a moment to say that I truly lucked out in the husband department. He braved the holiday shopping crowds with me and helped me pick out each gift. For someone who loves shopping as much as I do it's really good that Steve isn't just a purse holder. He also finished his shopping for me over a week ago and has had my gift wrapped and under the tree. We'll see what he got me before I say whether or not I forgive him for taunting me for 3 weeks. ;)

Stay tuned for menu planning monday this week because I actually planned out a menu!

Saturday, December 5, 2009

I spent the entire day today out shopping with Steve's grandma, mom and aunt Rose... we had a blast! I was good and didn't buy anything except lunch but it was a lot of fun to just browse and get ideas for Christmas gifts.

My mother in law ended up getting me a super comfy pair of PJ pants because they were on sale and she swears she never gets to buy me anything. I'm not about to argue when cozy fleece pj pants are offered. :)

It was a really nice day and a lot of fun to spend time with my new relatives. I am blessed with pretty great in-laws.

Friday, December 4, 2009

Right now I'm sitting next to Steve as he excitedly looks at all the options for the car he wants... completely geeking out over all the options. Ghost Busters 2 is on tv and life is good.

It is so nice to finally be feeling better and be able to cuddle with Steve without worrying about making him sick too. He's been a trooper though and even cooked dinner for me one night. This week my husband rocks because he takes care of me when I'm sick. :)

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Every month our apartment complex has a "early bird" drawing. Everyone who pays rent before the 1st of the month gets their name entered into the drawing and whomever is chosen wins a huge basket of goodies and gets their picture in the next month's community newsletter. Well, this month Steve and I were the lucky winners! When Steve got home from work we went to pick up our prize and get our picture taken.

It was a bit difficult to see everything while it was packed in the basket so here it is a bit more spread out:

This was also included but we took it out of the package before taking a picture of it:

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

The past few days have been awful. Thanks to my awesome immune system, I usually don't get anything more than the occasional sniffles and if it is worse than that, it doesn't last very long. However, every once in a while I catch something that renders me pretty much useless. This is one of those situations.

Yesterday I was so dizzy and congested that I didn't feel safe driving my car. My muscles are aching and no matter how much water and orange juice I drink my throat is all dry and scratchy. The constant coughing doesn't help either.

This is day 3 of being sick and, although I'm not really feeling any better, I am finally not feeling any worse. I attribute that to finally finding some cold medicine that actually does what it says it should:

Yeah, alka-seltzer is my new best friend. Prior to getting some of this last night at the grocery store I had been taking nyquil and robitussen... neither one did me any good. I couldn't fall asleep because I couldn't breathe. It felt like someone was trying to smother me with a pillow every time I laid down. Now I can actually breathe and sneezing does more than make my nose and throat hurt. My temperature is coming down slightly and I'm hoping I can shake this thing soon.

The only positive thign I can think of is that the timing of this cold is convenient if nothing else... after Thanksgiving (parts 1 and 2) and before I start my job.